Romeo & Juliet Video Guide

Before and after viewing Acts I-III, fill in the answers to the following:

 

 

Act I

 

1.      (Before) Star-crossed lovers means ________________________________________

2.      To “bite your thumb” is an _______________________________________________

3.      A troubadour is _______________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

4.      People in Shakespeare’s day believed that love first came through the eyes. What do we call it when people fall in love when they first meet? _____________________________________________________________________

5.      Lord Capulet says, “Her will to my consent is but a part.” He is speaking to Paris who wants to marry Juliet and what he means is __________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

6.      Romeo’s first soliloquy comes at the dance at the Capulet’s. He says, “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright” as he looks at Juliet. He is saying that she is so beautiful that her light teaches other light, torches for example. What is a soliloquy? _____________________________________________________________________

7.      (After) What does the prince say will be the sentence if the two families fight again? _____________________________________________________________________

8.       Why is the nurse insulted when Lady Capulet asks her to leave so she and Juliet can talk in private? ________________________________________________________

 

Act II

9.      (Before) In Shakespeare’s time they also believed that the god Cupid shot an arrow that wounded them, or made them fall in love. Romeo refers to being wounded several times. At the beginning of this act, Mercutio is mocking or laughing at Romeo who has been so lovesick lately over Rosaline. Mercutio does not know about Juliet though. Romeo says, though Mercutio can’t hear him, “He jests at scars that never felt a wound.” What is he saying? _________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

10. Near the end of the balcony scene, Juliet tells Romeo she should have been more “strange.” She means that she should have been less eager in her affections for him. She hopes he will not think that she is too easily won. What expression do we sometimes use when we mean the same thing? _______________________________

11. (After) What does Juliet tell Romeo he must do if he is serious in his love for her? _____________________________________________________________________

12. What is Friar Lawrence doing when we first meet him? ________________________ This will become important later. The Friar knows about the medicinal qualities of plants.

13. What makes Friar Lawrence change his mind and suddenly agree that a marriage between Romeo and Juliet would be a good thing? ____________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

 

Act III

14. (Before) A pun is a play on words with either two words that are very similar in sound but have different meanings or with only one word that has two different meanings. Puns are usually funny and play on people’s sense of what they might expect. In this act, Mercutio uses the word “grave.” He tells his friends that if they call for him tomorrow they will find him a grave man. They think he means “serious.” What he really means is “dead.” They find humor, but because of __________________________________ (kind of irony) we do not. We know Mercutio is mortally wounded.

15. (After) Do you think Romeo should have told Tybalt that he was his cousin before the fight began? Explain. ___________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

16. Mercutio says to Romeo, “I was hurt under your arm.” Why does Mercutio blame Romeo for his death? What was Romeo trying to do?  _________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

17. Romeo says, “Oh I am fortune’s fool.” He means that he has bad luck. Do you agree or disagree that luck has been responsible for how things have turned bad. Explain. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

18. What is the prince’s punishment for Romeo? What will happen if he is found back in Verona? _____________________________________________________________

19. Lady Capulet gets very angry at Juliet after she refuses to marry Paris. She says, “I would [wish] the fool were married to her grave.” This is an example of one of our literary terms. Which one? _______________________________________________

20. If you were Juliet, would you have told your mother the truth, that you are already married to Romeo? Why or Why not? ______________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Space for more notes below (or record questions you have that you want answered):

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